Chasing the Green Jersey: Mario Cipollini

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Mario Cipollini at the Amgen Tour of California

After the end of stage 6 we made our way to the team buses. There wasn't a bus for Rock Racing, just a Cadillac Escalade. You didn't have to speak Italian to see that when Mario Cipollini rode up he seemed a bit upset that there wasn't a bus. The Escalade was swarmed by fans, me included to get a glimpse of him. I thought I wouldn't get a chance to have my picture autographed, by just before the Escalade drove away, Mario rolled the window down and reached for my picture and autographed it!

Mario was banged up from his crash.

Mario autographing my picture.

Mission accomplished! I'm so happy!

Tour of California 2008 - Stage 6

While transferring and organizing files from my old computer I found pictures from the 2008 Amgen Tour of California. I was surprised to find pictures of Mark Cavendish sprinting for the finish line. I had been so fixated on Mario Cipollini that I didn't remember about Mark wining the sprint. Later we found out that Mark was penalized 20 seconds after officials said he grabbed onto the side of a team car while trying to catch back on to the peloton.

See Mario between the other High Road rider and the rider in the green jersey

About Me

One of the most asked questions: How is a mom, a college professor, and a woman who has only owned a Huffy from Kmart so into cycling? My two daughters have been riding and racing for over 10 years as well as my brother in law. The kids, including our son, took up the sport as an off season cross training for speed skating. Yes, there is speed skating in southern California. We found ourselves shuttling the kids between skating rinks and velodromes for training everyday of the week. So when the kids were asked to choose one sport, cycling won. Our son lost interest in both focusing in art and computers. The girls continued and were able to go to college on cycling scholarships competing nationally, winning collegiate titles on the track and road. All this happened about the time Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France. I remember watching the Tour de France for the first time and being confused how the race worked. Since watching it for the first time I’ve become a bit of a fanatic. I'm not an expert by any means, but I've probably been to more races than anyone can count. From local criteriums to Friday night races at the Encino velodrome -- from Junior track State Championships to Collegiate Track Nationals -- not to mention every San Francisco Grand Prix and AmgenTour of California . In high school my son did become interested in a different form of cycling, BMX. He also became interested in film, so I bought him a video camera which he used to film and edit many of his own BMX videos. The video camera became a great investment because he is now a 3D Motion graphics designer for Fox Head Inc.